Tony Matthews latest sport – Spain – kings of Europe again

Photo: Facebook

Last Sunday, Spain beat England 2-1 in the final of the 2024 Euros and so lifted the trophy for an unprecedented and record fourth time.

Alas, for England, it was another agonising near-miss and as a result head coach/manager Gareth Southgate resigned 48 hours later!

By far the best team in this year’s competition – winning seven matches in total – Spain dominated the final from start to finish, Mikel Oyarzabal being the unlikely match-winner with a strike in the 86th minute.

Substitute striker Oyarzabal, who had come on for skipper Alvaro Morata, was there in the right position at the right time to steer home a precise left-wing cross by left-back Marc Cucurella, just when the game at Berlin’s Olympiastadion seemed destined to go into extra time.

With this defeat, England are now without a major title in the men’s game since Alf Ramsey’s team lifted the World Cup way back in 1966 – when none of the current squad was born!

Spain’s committed victory last Sunday followed earlier triumphs in 1964, 2008 and 2012 – and now they are, without a shadow of doubt, ‘champions of Europe’.

The final itself was okay – not great – and after a goalless first-half, when neither goalkeeper was seriously tested, although England’s stopper Jordan Pickford twice saved goal-bound efforts, Spain’s impressive winger Nico Williams opened the scoring in the 47th minute.

England, always looking second best, managed to draw level in the 73^rd minute when substitute Cole Palmer guided home a right foot shot from the edge of the penalty-area.  There were late chances for both teams before Oyarzabal won the game for Spain – and what joy followed!

Spain’s other wide-man, teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal, who had celebrated his 17^th birthday just 24 hours earlier and set up Williams’ goal… is the youngest-ever player to appear in a major European Championship tournament, and now, along with his fellow winger, have become the ‘poster boys’ of Spain’s exciting, multicultural team that reflects its changing demographics.

Said a delighted Williams: “We are thrilled and hope this can keep going and we can go for the 2026 World Cup.”

And it must be said that a lot of credit has to go to Spain’s head coach/manager, who has been in office for just two years, and was a player with Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla and Alavés, making 348 appearances between 1978 and 1994. He’s done a terrific job, and says there’s a lot more to come from the Furia Roja – The Red Fury.

Fact file

Spain won all seven games without needing penalties, a record at a European Championship, and they did it the hard way by beating every other European nation who have ever won a major European competition, even the World Cup, namely Italy, Germany, France and England… and they also defeated the 2018 finalists Croatia on the way to glory in Berlin.

In midfielder Rodri, he of Manchester City fame, they had the ‘best outfield player’ in the tournament; teenage sensation Lamine Yamal was by far the ‘young player’ of the tournament; Spain’s Dani Olmo shared the ‘Golden Boot’ prize and Yamal had the most assists.

Interesting story

Yamal’s mother is from Equatorial Guinea and his father from Morocco, while Williams, aged 22, has Ghanaian parents who chose to stay in Europe when looking for a better life-style. One interesting story is that the Williams family had to travel to Spain on the back of a crowded truck and walk barefoot through parts of the the Sahara Desert before reaching their chosen destination.

Unlike his brother Inaki, who is a Ghana international, Nico chose to play for Spain and is now regarded as a national hero… and rightly so!